


Finally Home

by ShalaDakiri (AJStarhiker)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dead Like Me
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-04
Updated: 2012-09-10
Packaged: 2017-11-13 13:29:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/504024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJStarhiker/pseuds/ShalaDakiri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone has to make sure Slayers move on after death. Wishverse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:

BtVS created by Joss Whedon, Dead Like Me was created by Bryan Fuller.

 

She was dead-- had been for years, really, but she'd just been too stubborn to let go. Now, though, as she stared down at her own body, all she could feel was relief it was finally over.

"What happens now?"

"Now, you get to move on."

She didn't know where the guy next to her had come from; didn't know why she hadn't startled at his sudden appearance.

"Where?"

"Wherever your lights take you."

She finally looked up. The man next to her had the kind of face that could be anywhere between 30 and 50.

"You don't know?"

"I don't get to move on until my replacement is ready.

Her attention shifted to the others milling around the factory, "And them?"

"Get their own lights."

"I'll wait. I couldn't... I couldn't protect them, but..."

He nodded, pointing to the gleaming images forming. Each of the dead vanished into a different scene until only she remained.

The final light formed and she swallowed convulsively against emotions she'd long ago blocked in order to survive just a little longer. Now, though, all the losses, betrayals, and painful memories gave way to deep homesickness.

"I'm really done?" She hated how she sounded like a little kid, but... "I can go home now?"

He smiled at her, "You just have to go in."

She couldn't remember the last time she'd truly smiled and it felt awkward now.

"Thank you."

"Go on. You can rest."

Her smile felt a little less forced as she turned to sprint into the house she hadn't seen in almost three years.


	2. Chapter 2

He'd taken this assignment as a favor. He'd been passing through the town and the locals had a massacre to Reap. They had no time to deal with a transient only in town long enough to die.

The irony being her death was due to trying to stop said massacre. Not that she'd been entirely successful, but when they'd seen the caged people at the factory, they'd all known there should have been a lot more post-its.

As his fellow Reapers dealt with the rest of the dead, he approached the soul he'd taken. Unlike many of the others, she wasn't pleading to be sent back or demanding more time. She didn't even seem shocked like and her first question sounded more like a soldier waiting for orders than a freshly-dead soul wanting to know what was next.

When she finally looked up, he saw something in her eyes she'd been missing before she died: hope. Even his admission he didn't know what, exactly, would happen on the other side didn't dampen it. Her only request, to wait for the rest of the dead to pass on before her, was an easy one to grant and as each soul left, she seemed a bit lighter; a bit younger.

By the time her lights formed, the warrior and protector she'd clearly been in life was gone, replaced with a kid who just wanted to go home. An impression only reinforced by the scene waiting for her. She stared at it for a long moment before speaking.

"I'm really done? I can go home now?"

The obvious longing made him smile reassuringly, "You just have to go in."

She tore her eyes away from the glowing house. Her return smile seemed a bit off, as though she'd forgotten how, "Thank you."

"Go on. You can rest."

He watched her sprint up the porch and yank the door open. As she disappeared into her lights, he could imagine hearing her call to whoever waited for her.

The local supervisor came up next to hime, "Kids like that are always rough."

"I know. You either hate taking away a future, or you hate the fact a kid's got nothing left."

"Which one was yours?"

He closed his eyes, remembering the girl's longing for whatever was in the house, "I think she died a long time ago."

As he followed the other Reapers out, he let a single post-it drift to the floor:

B. Summers  
Blood Extraction Facility  
3:28 a.m.


End file.
